Ukraine journalist and Hawaiian business owner describe encounters with Routh
Ryan Wesley Routh, the detained man behind Donald Trump’s second apparent assassination attempt, was a small business owner in Hawaii and avid supporter of the Ukrainian war effort.
CNN spoke to another Hawaiian business owner and a journalist in Ukraine, both of whom had interacted with Routh in the past.
Newsweek Romania journalist Remus Cernea first met Routh in Kyiv’s Independence Square in June 2022, where the American was rallying people to join the foreign legion or to help Ukraine through various humanitarian aid organizations.
According to Cernea, Routh described Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as a “black and white… good versus evil” conflict.
In an interview with the AFP news agency from Kyiv in April 2022, Routh said: “Putin is a terrorist, and he needs to be ended, so we need everybody from around the globe to stop what they’re doing and come here now and support the Ukrainians to end this war.”
In another instance, Hawaiian business owner Saili Levi told CNN he had paid Routh $3,800 upfront to build a trailer for his business. But when Levi came to Routh’s shop to review his work, it was shoddy, he said.
Levi said when he asked Routh to improve the work via email, Routh ranted at him.
“He just kind of started ranting about, you know, ‘You think because you have money, you’re better than me?’” Levi said, adding that Routh also mentioned having gone to Ukraine to fight against Russia.
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